Chapter 2
—
They said Earth wasn’t always like this.
Long before Hyukmin was even born.
According to what could only be learned from history books, one day, people living in the real world suddenly started seeing a window called the system—something we’re now so familiar with.
At the same time, beings not human but created by the system, called NPCs, appeared, along with dungeons caused by scientifically inexplicable phenomena and towers that soared into the sky as if to pierce it.
Since these events happened long before Hyukmin was born, they felt familiar to him, but back then, the world was in utter chaos.
People panicked as the world became like an RPG game, with NPCs, dungeons, towers, professions, and magic-like skills called abilities.
How many could have endured such a drastically altered reality?
This led to the emergence of many strange organizations.
Some seemed to take the RPG game-like transformation too seriously.
A group called “Marakia” claimed that this world was just an RPG game, and to escape it, one had to die. They went as far as committing murders to “release” people from the game.
Of course, the conclusion was clear: death here meant death in the real world.
Anyway!
The point was that these things didn’t exist in the past.
== Status Window ==
[Name]: Bang Hyukmin
[Level]: 4
[Profession]: None
[Stats]:
Strength – 3
Agility – 4
Intelligence – 5
Stamina – 3
Mana – 1
=======
A reality that had turned into a game world—something unimaginable now.
Even for someone like Hyukmin, who had lived his whole life in such a world, what he was experiencing now was even harder to believe.
Was this how people from the distant past would have felt if they were thrown into today’s world?
“Is this… really real?”
The system had existed for so long that Hyukmin had never seen a world without it.
In other words, he knew the system well.
“Is it really level 4?”
The system had never made an error.
It always displayed the absolute truth.
“So it’s not 132 but actually 4? Are you sure?”
If the system showed level 4, then that must mean Hyukmin’s current level was, without a doubt, 4.
“Ha, haha… hahahaha.”
Laughter escaped his lips.
It wasn’t because he had gone mad from losing his level and stats.
Rather, he was laughing out of joy.
“Hahahahaha! So, I’m really in the past!”
A dark chapter of his life he had tried to forget, a part of his past that he had worked so hard to erase from his memory.
Yes, Hyukmin now stood in that dark chapter of his life.
He opened the door and stepped outside.
8:30 AM.
His mother and father had already left for work, and it seemed his younger sister had gone to school. The living room was empty.
Striding forward, he checked the calendar in the living room.
May 2, 2034.
“The last time we hit Hanbit Capital was December 21, 2077….”
So now it was 43 years ago?
Could it really be… that he had gone back to the past?
“Ugh.”
A sudden headache made him clutch his head.
-Please, listen to me!!!
At that moment, he remembered crying out to God before his death.
He had never believed in God his whole life.
Life had been too hellish to believe in the doctrines people claimed were God’s teachings.
And yet, despite his lack of faith and outright disregard for God,
why had he thought to call out to God just before his death?
He didn’t know why, but even knowing he wouldn’t be heard, he had desperately screamed.
But…
It seemed his cries had been heard.
“Did He really listen?”
His hands trembled uncontrollably.
His gaze naturally shifted toward the ceiling.
Then he clenched his fist tightly.
Shaking his head vigorously, he muttered,
“No, no, let’s not jump to conclusions. Who knows? It might just be hell playing tricks on me.”
A reality so absurdly beyond logic didn’t feel real.
But soon, Hyukmin shook his head again, went to his sister’s room, and retrieved a notebook and pen.
He began writing down every memory that remained vivid in his mind while mumbling to himself.
“I can’t know anything for sure. Let’s just focus on now. Whether it’s reality or a trick, whether it’s cold rice or hot rice, I’m in no position to be picky. I’ll just…”
Squeeze.
“…do what I can right now.”
Three hours later, holding a notebook filled with everything about the future, he went back to his room.
“If this is hell’s trickery, I’ll just play along.”
As long as he could achieve perfect revenge.
= = =
Without washing up, he threw on some clothes and stepped out.
He looked closely at the notebook in his hands.
“If this really is the past, and I’m here…”
Inside the notebook were countless hidden pieces, incidents, and events.
Thud!
Hyukmin closed the notebook and placed it securely inside his coat.
As he adjusted his shoes, he spoke.
“I’ll take everything I can.”
He exhaled deeply.
The numerous tasks tangled in his mind slowly began to organize themselves.
Even the pounding of his heart gradually slowed and steadied.
With his calm heart and cold thoughts, his gaze moved to the calendar.
“June 5, 2034.”
Sometimes, having an exceptional memory isn’t always a blessing.
The memory of that day, impossible to forget, spurred Hyukmin further.
“The day my father first went missing. The day our family began to fall apart.”
It was a day when rain fell relentlessly.
He had heard that his father, who worked as a foreman at a construction site, had suddenly gone missing.
And then, breaking news came on TV.
-Fourteen workers at a department store construction site in Sindang disappeared simultaneously.
Many people searched, and the results only deepened the despair for their families.
-Authorities and the Guild Association reported that the workers were victims of a dungeon phenomenon that suddenly occurred.
They thought it was a natural disaster, something caused by Earth’s environment, with no one to blame.
The family consoled each other, trying to bury their sadness, believing their father had simply been unlucky.
But no one knew.
No one realized that this tragedy would be the spark to destroy their once-happy family.
-He has been declared deceased.
Three days were far too short a time to erase the overwhelming sorrow.
And then, Hyukmin’s mother passed away in a car accident.
Another wave of grief struck him.
It was the fault of a drunk driver on their way home from work.
The doctor’s solemn words stuck in his chest like a nail, refusing to be pulled out.
As if one nail wasn’t enough, another forced its way in through the gap.
When his father went missing, he thought, Could I ever feel a deeper sorrow than this?
But…
That was a mistake.
Sobs, hiccup, hiccup.
When his father disappeared, his younger sister had taken care of both their grieving mother and Hyukmin, who was holed up in his room.
But for the first time, he saw her silently sobbing at their mother’s funeral.
And not long after…
His younger sister also passed away.
From June 5, 2034, to June 12, 2034.
Exactly one week after his father’s disappearance, Hyukmin lost every member of his family.
Grit.
At the time, he had no idea.
That all of this was connected to those people.
“I’ll stop it, no matter what.”
Memories of everything he did after leaving the house flooded back.
He had begged. He had attempted theft to get food and been beaten for it.
He had even scavenged through garbage bins, competing with stray cats.
Swish.
Shaking his head, he forcefully swept away those dark memories he had pushed far away.
Now, another chance had come.
Before June 5, 2034, he planned to change everything.
In this world, to make such changes possible, one thing was most crucial: power.
“Huu.”
And as luck would have it, everything was written in his notebook.
“I’ll monopolize it all.”
This time, he wouldn’t repeat the regrets of the past.
Never again.
“Status Window.”
He checked the skills section, something he hadn’t looked at earlier.
“Probably nothing.”
There hadn’t been any before.
He was someone who had been called untalented, a body incapable of anything extraordinary, who had clawed his way up through sheer effort to find his abilities.
=============
[Skills]
(EX-rank) Regression Mode.
=============
“…?!!”
What? What is this?
His eyes nearly popped out of his head.
Something that shouldn’t have existed had appeared in the empty skills section.
EX…?
It was a type of rank he had never seen before.
He had neither seen nor heard of it.
And there was no chance of it being a system error.
As mentioned before, the system didn’t make errors.
“Then this really is an EX-rank skill…”
He grasped his trembling hands tightly.
Calming his pounding chest, he thought,
Does the rank even matter?
No matter how unprecedented a skill’s rank was, if its effects were lackluster, it would be useless.
Click.
With a shaking hand, he pressed on the “Regression Mode” skill to check its description.
(EX-rank) Regression Mode.
- Returns to a past state for 2 minutes.
- Cooldown: 120 minutes.
“What is this supposed to mean?”
Even after reading the description, he couldn’t comprehend it.
Return to a past state? For only 2 minutes?
It was a pitiful skill.
“If I return to the past, how far back does it mean?”
Would he return to before he became a recluse?
Or perhaps to an even younger age?
His brows furrowed on their own.
The thought occurred to him—was EX-rank actually the lowest rank? He felt even more disappointed.
But regardless, what did it matter?
He had thought there would be nothing there.
“Well, if I don’t need it, I won’t use it.”
He had hoped for something more.
Still, it didn’t make much of a difference. He hadn’t expected anything to begin with.
“Maybe I should just test it out once.”
For confirmation, he used the scant bit of mana from his stat “1” and called out.
“Regression Mode.”
No sound or visible change followed.
Only the system window gave an audible notification.
[EX-rank Skill. Regression Mode activated.]
It was quiet.
There was no flash of light or dramatic transformation.
No one would have noticed that anything had happened.
Only the timer in his vision, counting down, confirmed that the skill had been activated.
“Doesn’t seem like much.”
Just as he was about to turn around,
Hyukmin froze completely in place.
Then, the muscles on his face began to twitch, and he broke into the brightest smile he had ever worn.
“Th-this is insane!”
The reflection in the mirror showed none other than the form of himself before his death—when he had been known as the monstrous hunter at level 132.
A rugged beard, scars covering his body, and a physique far more solid than the one he had 43 years ago.
“Status Window!”
Unable to contain his excitement, he shouted at the system.
============
[Name]: Bang Hyukmin.
[Level]: 132.
[Profession]: Double Heavy Class.
[Stats]:
Strength: 232.
Agility: 314.
Intelligence: 188.
Stamina: 120.
Mana: 140.
===========
He was in the past, 43 years ago.
Looking at his stats, he realized something.
With this level of stats and skills, he’d be considered a monster even among today’s rankers.
“This is an absolutely insane skill…”
After 2 minutes passed, he returned to his original body.
The hardened muscles reverted to frail arms.
As the stats drained away, his weak body felt even heavier.
The black coat that had once covered his entire body, the massive sword marked with crimson lines,
the red and blue earrings, and the four rings he had painstakingly obtained over decades—all disappeared.
There was a pang of regret.
Regression Mode…
Even with the cooldown, it was better than nothing.
Now, one thing was certain.
EX-rank was the highest rank.
I’ll adjust my plan.
He reopened his notebook, flipping to the first page.
Things he had given up on due to his level 4 body now came back into focus.
A smile crept onto his face.
Thud!
He closed the notebook, and the smile vanished from his face.
“Two hours, huh.”
Smirk.
Instead of putting on his shoes to leave, he stepped back into his room and began gathering every bit of money he could.
—
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